'What can be done?' Shavi asked. 'Other Golden Ones have refused to have anything to do with it. Some have said there is nothing that can be done.'
'Little can be done, it is true. The Heart of Shadows is a vile canker. Once established, it grows without respite. It is too hard in its corruption to be eradicated.'
'Then what?' Shavi stared deep into Cernunnos' gleaming eyes, trying to make sense of what he was saying. 'Is it hopeless?'
'Nothing is hopeless. We Golden Ones guard our secrets with pride, and this is mine: the Heart of Shadows can be removed without harming the Good Sister.' Shavi's mood brightened at once. 'The ritual must be carried out tonight, before the turn of the day when the moon is clear. And a sacrifice is called for.'
'Anything,' Shavi said without a moment's thought. 'I will do it.'
'Anything?'
Shavi nodded. 'She is a good person. She deserves more.'
'And you do not?'
'If there is anything I can do to help, I must.'
Cernunnos watched Shavi's face like an animal surveying something which could be prey or predator. Then he turned slowly, making strange, unnatural gestures with his left hand, and when he was facing Shavi again he was holding a small, smoky-coloured bottle with a wax stopper. 'Here is the radiance that will burn out the Heart of Shadows.'
He held out the bottle. Shavi took it gingerly. 'What will happen?'
Cernunnos' eyes narrowed until the light within them seemed like distant stars, but he said nothing.
The bottle felt odd in Shavi's hand, not like glass at all. He slipped it quickly into his pocket. 'On behalf of Ruth, I offer my great thanks for your aid. On behalf of all the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons.'
'Go with speed, Twilight Dancer. I have always entertained your forebears well.'
Shavi turned to leave, then paused, wondering if he dare give voice to what was lying heavy on his mind. 'When the Wild Hunt has been summoned, someone must die. Is that correct?'
Cernunnos said nothing; in the background the Hunt was growing restless.
'There are a young man and woman nearby. Do not take them.'
Cernunnos eyed him curiously for a moment, then nodded slowly in agreement. He looked towards the sun, now moving towards the horizon. 'When night comes, the Wild Hunt will ride.'
Though he had saved the young couple, Shavi felt the weight of his guilt: there would be yet another death on his conscience. Even the friendly powers that had colonised the world had no real respect for humanity; they agreed to whims with the gentle weariness of patrons who could turn suddenly if the mood took them. There would be no freedom until they were all driven out.
He bowed slightly, although it was a little curter than his greeting. Cernunnos made some strange animal noise, then moved back towards the riders, his shape slowly metamorphosing back into that of the Erl-King. After a few paces, he turned back towards Shavi, an enigmatic expression on his face. 'I hail your sacrifice, Twilight Dancer, and I wish you well in the Grey Lands.' And then he was gone, twisting and changing like sunlight on water. The horses moved away into the trees, the baying of the hounds more insistent; terrifying.
Shavi's shoulders sagged briefly, but then he pulled the bottle from his pocket. Here was confirmation that things were not all bad; that there were miracles among the nightmares. All he had to do was to reach Ruth before midnight. He checked the angle of the sun, then started to run across the parkland towards the nearest road. He would ride like the Devil was at his heels.
Chapter Twenty
Chutch didn't know how he made it back to the house. The sword was his support over the rough ground, levering him up over rocks which were too much for his battered body to surmount. There was so much pain in every inch of him that he no longer focused on it; he simply floated in a cloud untouched by his senses. The most sensible thing would be to black out and rest where he fell, let his body heal a little. But night was not far away, and Lughnasadh was rising after that. Everything depended on the next few hours; a moment's weakness would doom them all.
Laura was waiting for him as he crested the last ridge, a look of such contempt on her face he thought she was going to punch him. 'Suicide boy,' she sneered. 'Looks like you got unlucky.' Then she saw the pain that was racking him. 'A close thing, though. Maybe next time, eh?'
He expected a supportive hand, but she marched back to the house, leaving him to make his own way.
By the time he reached the house he was feeling much better than when he had started his journey; the Pendragon Spirit was helping, coupled with whatever earth energies were focused within the tor, but he knew it would take many days to get back to full form; longer for his hand to heal properly. He had attempted to bind it with his handkerchief-the agony had almost made him black out. He would need Laura's help to fasten it up tightly enough for the bones to start to knit without any disfigurement.
But the moment he stepped into the house all thought of his own pain disappeared. Ruth was huddled in one corner, her belly distended and mottled grey, green and purple, as if it had been beaten with a stick. Her skin was drained of blood, the crescents under her eyes and the hollows of her cheeks so dark she looked as if she were close to death by starvation. There was no longer any ranting or delirium; her eyelids barely flickered and her breath was so shallow it was almost imperceptible. It was obvious the end was near.
Laura refused to look at her; she kept staring out of the windows or at the walls, as if there was something more interesting to see. 'So when are you going to put her out of her misery?' she said bitterly. 'I see you've found something for the execution.'
'There's still time,' he replied wearily; he didn't have the energy to deal with her baiting.
He knelt down and brushed the hair from Ruth's forehead; her skin was clammily unpleasant to the touch. Hesitantly he moved his hand down, hovering over her belly for an instant before he laid it on her skin. The instant he touched it something moved beneath. He snatched his hand away, stifling a cry of disgust. It had felt like a dog had snapped at him.
Laura must have seen something too, for there were tears in her eyes born of incomprehension and horror. 'How can that happen?' Her voice was a small child's. 'It can't really be inside her. Nothing's inside her, is it?'
Church rubbed a hand across his face, composed himself, then stood up and walked to the door. 'We'll give it till nearly midnight,' he said without looking at her. He had to find some place to rest so he could find the reserves he prayed were buried deep within him. 'We've got to have hope. There's still a chance one of the others could make it back.'
He felt her eyes heavy on his back, urging him to go back to her, comfort her. He paused briefly, then walked out into the afternoon sun, mentally preparing himself for what the night would bring.
The sun was uncomfortably close to the horizon when Shavi made it across the park to the nearest road. He was slick with sweat, his throat burned and his stomach was in knots, but none of it mattered; he knew instinctively he was the last hope for Ruth, for all of them. There was still time to make it back with Cernunnos' mysterious potion, just as long as he found a vehicle quickly.
Desperately he scanned the road in both directions. Normally there would have been a constant flow of traffic in both directions, but in the twilight of society's dissolution there was no sign of anything.
'Please,' he whispered. 'Whatever gods are listening-'
A white Renault Clio appeared from around the bend. Stifling a wave of exaltation, he took a step out into the road, furiously trying to think how he would convince the driver to hand over his vehicle, knowing he would take it by force if he had to.
As he neared he saw the troubled face of a white-haired old woman leaning over the wheel, peering ahead anxiously as if she expected a sudden rush of juggernauts. Suddenly she glanced in his direction and her expression froze in horror, her mouth a growing 0.
What is wrong with her? Shavi thought.
